The truth of this life : Zen teachings on loving the world as it is

by Katherine Thanas

Paperback, 2018

Publication

Imprint: Boulder, Colorado : Shambhala, 2018. Edition: First edition. Responsibility: Katherine Thanas ; edited by Natalie Goldberg and Bill Anelli ; forewords by Norman Fischer and Wendy Johnson. OCLC Number: 985801240. Physical: Text : 1 volume : xlii, 134 pages : portrait ; 22 cm. Features: Includes bibliography, glossary.

Call number

GT-B-Z / Thana

Barcode

BK-08179

ISBN

9781611804683

Collections

Your library, Adult Materials, The Great Traditions

CSS Library Notes

Description: "The truth and joy of this life is that we cannot change things as they are." The import of those words can be found beautifully expressed in the work of the woman who spoke them, Katherine Thanas (1927-2012) in her art, in her writing, and especially in her Zen teaching. Fearlessly direct and endlessly curious, Katherine?s understanding of Zen was inseparable from her affinity for the arts. She was an MFA student studying painting with Richard Diebenkorn, the preeminent Californian abstract painter, when she met Shunryu Suzuki, author of Zen Mind, Beginner?s Mind, in the sixties. Soon thereafter she decided to drop painting to dedicate herself to Zen, which she did for the last forty years of her life. In these essential teachings taken from her dharma talks?which make up her only book?her love of art and literature shine through in her elegant prose and her vast references, from poets William Stafford and Naomi Shihab Nye to the Zen teachings of Dogen and Robert Aitken. Ranging on subjects from the practice of zazen to the meaning of life, Katherine urges us to "develop an insatiable appetite for inner awareness, to become proficient with this mind." This slim volume is an important contribution by a well-loved and revered teacher. -- from back cover

Table of Contents: Foreword by Norman Fischer --
Foreword by Wendy Johnson --
Preface by Natalie Goldberg --
Introduction by Bill Anelli --
Inside of Time --
What we cannot know --
How the universe thinks --
Loving the world as it is --
Just this.

FY2019 /

Physical description

xlii, 134 p.; 22 cm

Description

Katherine Thanas was an MFA student studying painting with Richard Diebenkorn, the preeminent Californian abstract painter, when she met Shunryu Suzuki in the sixties. Soon thereafter she decided to drop painting to dedicate herself to Zen, which she did for the last forty years of her life. Fearlessly direct and endlessly curious, Katherine had a deep understanding of Zen and an affinity for the arts. Her love of literature shines through in these talks, both in her elegant prose and her vast references, from poets William Stafford and Naomi Shihab Nye to Robert Aitken's translation of the Mumonkanand Dogen. This posthumous book, and Katherine's only book, is a collection of her essential teachings taken from her dharma talks. In these short pieces, ranging on subjects from the practice of zazento the meaning of life, Katherine urges us to "develop an insatiable appetite for inner awareness, to become proficient with this mind." This slim volume is an important contribution by a serious Zen woman.… (more)